New Rhinocerotidae from the Kisingiri localities (lower Miocene of western Kenya)

<p>We describe new material of Rhinocerotidae recently collected in western Kenya. A skull from Karungu is one of the best-preserved Miocene skulls in Africa. It differs substantially from that of <i>Rusingaceros leakeyi</i>, the only other relatively well-known rhino from this region and age, in its degree of brachycephaly, possession of a deep nasal notch, and long nasal bones that probably carried a horn of moderate size. Miocene African rhinos are still too poorly known to resolve their phylogenetic relationships, but we tentatively assign this skull to a new species of <i>Victoriaceros</i>, a genus whose type species comes from the younger site of Maboko, although the Karungu skull has a much smaller nasal horn. A parsimony analysis resolves them as sister species within the Elasmotheriini, close to the other African genera <i>Turkanatherium</i> and <i>Chilotheridium</i>, but we consider this result debatable, as <i>Victoriaceros</i> differs considerably from them. Still, they might all be descended from European forms. A partial skull from Gumba is assigned to the Aceratheriini, making it one of the earliest representatives of this group and suggesting that the origin of this tribe could be African.</p> <p>http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2B1E8135-CCD4-43EB-826B-6DF7176DC74E</p> <p>SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/UJVP" target="_blank">www.tandfonline.com/UJVP</a></p> <p>Citation for this article: Geraads, D., T. Lehmann, D. J. Peppe, and K. P. McNulty. 2016. New Rhinocerotidae from the Kisingiri localities (lower Miocene of western Kenya). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1103247.</p>